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Heroes - Black Fire Lighthouse
Relatively mature, fantasy, nanowrimo entry, proofread by sophie, also over 50,000 words long.... Prologue Looking over the peaceful village was always a pleasing sight. The Near Star had already sunk behind the large mountain, Mount Killimore, that sat at the far edge of the village, casting the first shadows of night over the people and the moon taking its place to emit a faint light for them to still get around. The village was set on three levels, each one dropping to a cliff and connected by sets of stairs. The first level is where the calm Lake Kio rested for the people to swim in and fish its depths with a few buildings to make up the market place and the mayor's house. A set of stone steps led up to the second level of the village where the teacher, Mr. Killimore, lived and where the majority of the houses were to make it a little easier for the people of Kio to go to their classes to learn the ways of the planet. The third level held the Healing Room and beyond that was Mount Killimore; this level of the village also held the beginng of a heavy stream that the mountain spat out and pounded its way through the middle of the village to fall to each level until it reached its way to Lake Kio. On the opposite side of the Lake, the village was met with a large forest that was quiet and peaceful about one hundred meters in and after that, no one dared to go any further. Sitting on the second level of the village was a young man and woman looking down at the lake, hands locked together and no space left between them. The lake sparkled beautifully against the moon's shine and the gentle breeze blew through the village, bringing the smells of smoldering fires from the houses below. The lake seemed to be perfectly smooth, the slightest ripples surfing across the surface in responce to the breeze. The woman shifted her eyes from the moon to the lake in amazment and said, "It's beautiful, Layle." "Thought you might like it, Ivy," Layle replied, smiling down at his girlfriend. Ivy scooted a little closer to Layle and grabbed tightly hold of his waist as she looked down at the lake and saw the surface beginning to ripple. A large shadow was rising up from the depths of the lake and when it broke through, it sent droplets of water toward Ivy and Layle both of whom looking at the creature in horror at first, then in astonishment as the spectacular creature came into view, a low and gentle growl coming from its throat. A long serpent, like creature was floating into the sky at least fifty feet in length, the color of a rainbow, but the color ran through the creature as if it were made of liquid even though it was a clear solid animal. It was the Rainbow Fire Dragon that was legend to live in Mount Killimore, now in front of them. Four large, muscular legs that held claws as large as a human torso, a mane traveled down its neck and back, licking the air like flames. It turned back toward the lake and dove back down too its depths, barely leaving a ripple of its exsistance. "Oh, wow, that was the Protector," Ivy said. "Er, yeah, yes it was," Layle choked. "Tonight is going to be a wonderful night." He smile down at her and leaned over to lock their lips together. Above them at least one hundred feet, standing next to an enterance to the Mount Killimore Coves were three men. They hid in the shadows peering over the peaceful down, watching everyone blow out their candles for the night. These men were dark and not the usual guests someone would see in Kio; their eyes followed the Protector back into the water, a low hiss coming from one of them. "The boy is right," crame a scratchy voice. "It is going to be a most wondrous night, especially when we grab our valuables." The man turned on his heel and walked into the Coves, the other two following behind him, getting ready to cause the greatest disaster Kio has ever witnessed in its time as a loving, peaceful village. That peace was about to end. Chapter I: Story of the Lighthouse "Kyle, wake up!" yelled a young woman with bushy brown hair and gorgeous blue eyes that where covered with a coat of fear. "We have to go now!" Jennifer almost cried this time. "Yeah, Mum, whatever," Kyle managed to slur out before rolling back over. His bed started to shake violently and he instantly threw himself out of bed, almost falling over due to the shake. He looked over at his mother when it was over. "Was that an explosion?" she nodded back at him. "Whats goin' on, Mum?" Jennifer grabbed Kyle firmly by the arm and started walking him down the stairs. She stopped and looked at him in the eyes when they got near the door. "There's no time to explain, sweetie," she said. "I want you to go to the enterance of Kio with th-the rest of the townsfolk, okay?" Kyle grabbed hold of her hand as she began to run out the door. "Mum, what's goin' on here?" There was an explosion that blew into their house, sending dust and debris everywhere knocking Kyle on the ground and seperating him from his mother. He got up quickly to her at the door about ready to leave and looking at him with those same eyes as when his father was killed. "They're attacking us again. I-I have to go help protect Kio!" And she was gone. "Mum!" Kyle cried out, tripping his way over the rubble trying to catch up with her. "You can't go, they'll...they'll kill you like they did with Dad. Mum!" He staggered his way out of the house looking for his mother only to see his once peaceful village of Kio in ruins and flames. People were running past him, ducking down and screaming trying to make their way to the enterance, the smell of the burning houses and flesh stinging his nose. There were bodies scattered across the ground, bloodied and burnt; some dead and some still screaming. He ran over to one of the bodies and tried lifting the man up, but he was too heavy for Kyle and during his struggle, a ball of Rainbow Fire threw him back to finish off the dying man. Kyle looked up at the cliffs to see a man glaring down at the village with his arms folded and about a hundred feet below him was a couple running for cover. Kyle started running against the screaming crowd toward the cliffs, he had no idea what drew him to that man right now, all common sense said he should be running the other way. He wasn't paying attention to anyone around him until he ran into someone, knocking them down on their backside but Kyle still standing due to the speed he was running. He looked down at the person he had knocked over and saw his childhood best friend shaking his shaggy black hair then looking up to see who ran into him, a frieghtened look in his deep green eyes. "Garen," he said, helping him up. "Where are you goin'?" "I'm going where I'm suppose to be going," Garen replied. "And you would be going where?" Kyle just pointed at the man stnading at the cliff and Garen stared at him in disbelief. "How crazy are you exactly, Kyle?" "I think these are the same people that attacked Kio when we were barely walking, the same people that killed my father." "Which is an even better reason that we should get away from them," Garen pleaded. "No," Kyle started walking forward again, but Garen stopped him. "Get out of my way." "I'm not letting you go." Kyle opened his mouth to rebutal, but was cut short by a high pitched scream coming from a woman he could point out in a crowd of a thousand people, Shelby. Just like Garen, Shelby was Kyle's life long friend, but sometimes it felt like more than that, almost like they belonged together. He could remember almost everything that they've done together and just like him, she lost her father to the people who raided Kio so many years ago. Shelby and her family are the decendants of one of the two original founders of Kio and her father was next in line to be the mayor, but with his loss and her brother being too young at the time, one of the elders took up the position to fill the place until her brother, Forbis, was of age to take the mayor's spot. Kyle could never explain it, but there was always a weird feeling, a connection between them that bonded them closer than just friends, closer than anything he's ever known. It was almost the same thing with Garen. They were closer than just friends, almost brothers it seemed. The three of them were the closest friends of anyone in the village and always messed around with other people, having fun and toying with their powers, Fire of Color. Always testing each other's bravery by going as deep into the forest as they could, Kyle always being the bravest of the three, and pulling pranks on the elder students who were a few years advanced to them at the art of Fire of Color but never seemed to prove much of a threat. Garen could point her voice out in a field of signing sirens almost as well as Kyle and was now looking in the direction of her house just as Kyle was. They looked quickly at each other and ran to the set of stairs that would lead them directly to Shelby's house while ducking under balls of Purple and Silver Fire, Kyle forgetting all about the man at the cliff side. Garen started running quickly down the steps but Kyle stopped about a foot away from them barely peering down the side of the drop, feeling his stomach start to flip. Through all of his training, he still had one great fear that he couldn't master; heights. This was the highest set of steps in Kio and he could never go down them and aways took the longest way around to Shelby's house. Garen looked back at him about half way down the steps and shouted, "Kyle, this is not time for your fears to get in the way!" "Oh yeah, right," Kyle said softly and started running down the steps with Garen, very hesitantly. Chapter II: The Teacher THREE YEARS LATER… He was practicing on a wooden figure, throwing streams of Rainbow Fire at it and then making them turn to a sparkling dust right before they hit. It was a great technique that Kyle picked up in his training, but it had its flaws. He was only using simple Fire of Color attacks; this move wouldn’t work against someone stronger, someone he thinks he may have met before. He could hear someone walking up behind him and turned around, facing Shelby, his friend since childhood. She was looking a bit tanner than usual, spending more time at the Boulder Springs then she normally did and her slightly yellow eyes seemed to sparkle at Kyle in the sun, causing him to not be able to look into them. Her hair was long and smooth, stretching down to her mid-back, the brown hair was whipping away from her in the wind. She really was quite a beautiful girl, Kyle thought to himself. He tried looking into her eyes again and finally found the nerve to speak. “What would you be doin’ so close to the forest for, Shelby?” he asked. “You know it can be pretty dangerous.” “Kyle, you’ve been training too much,” she said to him with a grin. “Besides, it’s almost time for Mr. Killimore’s class; have you any idea where Garen is?” “Probably deeper in the woods, training with Neotasha last I saw.” “You let them train together? They’re going to kill each other, Kyle, they can’t stand one another.” “Well, hey,” he said shrugging his shoulders, “at least it’s good training.” Shelby hit him on the arm and pushed him towards the woods, “Go get them, Kyle, that wasn’t very funny.” “It’ll be alright, I was only kidding,” he said starting to walk further into the woods, then he looked back at Shelby and smiled. “Well aren’t you coming with?” He then stretched his arm out, retracting it a bit out of shyness, then giving it to Shelby to grab onto, his inside squirming when she grabbed hold, smiling up at him. “Why of course,” she said, “but only if you can protect me.” She hugged onto his arm now, causing his stomach to do back flips. “I can, it’s no problem.” He led her into the woods where the light barely shined through the trees at them. They could see the wild life running the other way, sensing danger and as they reach the creek he stopped and looked down at the water. He was examining something closely, and then decided to move on, following the creek up stream and watching as the fish in the water began to grow larger and a bit more fierce looking. He stopped her when they heard an explosion go off just a few yards in front of them, beyond a thicket of trees. Kyle grabbed hold of Shelby’s hand again and crawled to the thicket quietly and came to the other end where there was a clearing and two men standing in it, fighting one another. The one with the rough brown hair was his best friend, Garen. The other one looked quite different. Neotasha was tall and slender, towering over Garen with his narrow eyes watching his every move. His blonde hair was slicked back and his mouth curled up into a cruel smile, exposing his white teeth that mocked Garen’s attacks. Garen jumped forward with his sword and was knocked back by a wall of Silver Fire by Neotasha. And as Garen lay there trying to regain himself, glaring up at Neotasha, he let out a wave of Silver Fire and sent it toward Garen. But the Fire turned to a cloud of dust, falling harmlessly onto Garen, who looked over at the person who did and found Kyle standing there, his arm stretched out, holding onto Shelby. “Boy, am I glad you can do that,” he said with a smile, then got up and starting running towards Kyle, but was blocked off by a wall of Silver Fire. “You’re not finished with your training yet,” Neotasha said and saw that his wall was getting lower, he looked over at Kyle. “What are you doing?” “He’s done with his training for now, Neotasha; we have a meeting with Mr. Killimore. But if you really wanna train some more, fight me,” Kyle said, getting down in a fighting position. "If you insist," and Neotasha did the same, snarling at Kyle. He leapt forward at Kyle and took a hard swing at him, but Kyle parried it and hit him in the chest, a ring of Rainbow Fire appearing where he hit, and sent Neotasha flying back. “We’re done here,” Kyle said gently. “We have a class to get to.” And he turned on his heel, beckoning for Garen and Shelby to follow him out of the forest. They walked their way across the village, looking at the people still trying to rebuild from the attack three years ago. For some reason Kyle couldn’t remember the attack that well and Garen had the same troubles, all the day seemed to be were flashes of random things, but one thing stood out in his memory; a flash of Purple Fire. They came up to a bridge that was about fifty feet above the rapids below that Garen and Shelby crossed, but Kyle stood their staring down at the rough water. He started to walk across it very slowly, his legs feeling weak and his stomach feeling as if it had dropped out of his body. Kyle never crossed this bridge, it was the highest one in Kio, so he always found a different way around. Finally he crossed it and Garen looked over at him with a sly grin on his face. “Now, my understanding was that you were overcoming your fear of heights with your training,” he said in a bit of a higher voice. “It seems that it’s not going very well?” “Shut up,” Kyle said shortly. “Mr. Killimore’s house is just ahead." And he walked a bit further up, seeing Mr. Killimore’s house, then stopping quickly holding up his hand to stop the other two. There were three men walking out of his house, all dressed in black. The man in the front had crazy yellow eyes with a wild look in them, his ghostly white hair stood up a few inches as if he’d got struck by lightning. The second man had pure silver hair grown down to his should and jet black eyes that looked deadly. And the last man to walk out had no color in his eyes at all, they were nothing but white, his hair was a wild black mess and his grin showed off razor sharp teeth that glistened in the sun. Something about these men seemed familiar to Kyle. Then he felt a sudden pain in his head and he grabbed hold of it, keeling over in the pain. He saw flashes of the night of the attack going through his head. He could see the three men standing in front of them, telling them some sort of story, the other two disappeared, leaving the one with the crazy eyes, no, leaving Nerag there to wipe their memories clean with his Purple Fire. Kyle came to on the ground, Garen looking down at him and Shelby hovering over him, both with worried looks. “Those were the three men that attacked us,” he looked over at Garen and before they could speak, he said, “that night. I saw a flash, those three were there telling us some sort of story. The one with the white hair; his name is Nerag; he’s the one that took our memories away. The other one with the long silver hair is Elyk and I think he uses Silver Fire. I don’t know the other ones name; I don’t think they mentioned it.” “Well, it’s good that you remember that,” Shelby said, “but if that’s all, then it’s no use. We need to know that story. They’re gone now anyway, it’s time for our class.” “It seems to me that some kids have been trying to listen in on conversations that they should not be listening to,” came a cruel voice from behind them, they all turned around and sawNerag and Elyk standing behind them. “I guess it’s time to show them some manners.” “There is no need,” came a rough, crackling voice from above them. They looked up and saw the leader of the group, floating down behind Nerag and Elyk. “They were not attempting to listen in on our conversation with the kind old Killimore; they wouldn’t have gotten any more information than we did anyway, the fool doesn’t know anything. They just happen to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, am I right?” The three of them nodded nervously, not being able to speak. This guy spoke almost kindly to them, but there was something about his voice and his presence saying that he was extremely dangerous. “Good,” he said. “Now, if I’m not mistaken, you three have a meeting with him? Why don’t you run along and learn what you need. You are much too weak and inexperienced to face even Nerag now. So go, before I change my mind.” Kyle was the first to turn around and start walking toward Mr. Killimore’s house, Garen and Shelby followed right behind him, not looking back at the three men. Kyle put his head down, thinking about what these men were here for and if his memory was correct, then this isn’t the first time they’ve been here. The questions in his head grew more about these men and kept going until he was forced to stop by a hand on his shoulder and when he looked up he was face to face with Mr. Killimore. Kyle could see every young bit of detail on his face. There was not a wrinkle to be seen, his teeth were perfectly straight and all gleaming, white. His eyes were a light shade of green and his slicked hair was a smooth, jet black. Mr. Killimore has been living in Kio as long as anyone could remember and everyone knew he was by far the oldest person in the village, but he looked as though he was barely past the age of twenty. One of the great abilities of Fire of Color that these people used; not aging and to be immortal if you choose. “You almost ran me down there, Kyle,” Mr. Killimore said with a soft voice. “Sorry 'bout that, sir,” Kyle replied. “I was, er, just thinking.” “Right,” he said looking at Kyle carefully. “Now let’s all step into my house here so we can get started.” The four of them walked in Mr. Killimore’s house, Garen, Kyle and Shelby sitting in the front row of desks that filled the living space. Garen looked around at the empty desks, a confused look on his face. “Uh, Mr. Killimore,” he said looking up at him, “where are the rest of the students?” “It’s a private lesson,” Mr. Killimore said sitting at the front of the room, “for only you three. You, Shelby, are the brightest one of my class. And you two are the most experience at Fire of Color.” The three of them watched Mr. Killimore carefully as he stood up and started pacing back and forth, thinking of where to begin the lesson. They have never heard of any private teachings that he’s had with any students before and it interested them at what it could be. Mr. Killimore’s facial features seemed to have aged a bit, his eyes showing slight wrinkles around them and his jet black hair showing streaks of grey. “As you know,” he began, “our world revolves around the power that we know as Fire of Color. There aren’t that many of us out there anymore, but there are enough to keep this planet safe.” He walked up to them, holding out his arm and letting a ball of Black Fire light up on the palm of his hand. “There are seven different forms and each one has their own unique ability, although some of the abilities are unknown. We know that Black Fire has the ability to heal; it can be quite painful when your muscles have been torn or bones have been broken. “Now for Green Fire,” he continued, “it’s been known to drive people mad. I don’t believe you’ve experienced the abilities of it, Garen; it’s of more powerful people. It has been said that you can see images of the future with this Fire, so far into the future that people don’t know what’s really here or there. Purple Fire you both have had a firsthand encounter with, having the ability to wipe the memories clean of whomever it is used against.” He looked over into Kyle’s eyes carefully. “But there is a major down fall to this Fire. If one has the right connection to those memories or has the right motivation, they will have their memories returned to them. Bronze and Gold Fire are unknown to us, for they are a rare Fire to have, but it is said that the ones to possess Gold Fire are very pure at heart and are noble friends to have. Silver Fire is just as rare, but even more so mysterious. The ones who possess Silver Fire have been reported around strange and mysterious things that could not be explained, but I don’t have any word on what these things may be.” Kyle’s attention seemed to have been distracted from Mr. Killimore’s lesson. He could see the three men again three years ago. He could hear the leader of them saying that they were too young and inexperienced to see the properties of Silver Fire. Kyle came back, his eyes wondering around trying to figure out what happened. No one else noticed that he had spaced out for a moment and Mr. Killimore was pausing, taking a drink of his tea that was sitting on his desk. He decided not to mention it. Mr. Killimore put the tea back down on the table and continued his lesson about the Fires of Color. “Now, that only leaves one Fire left, it is the most powerful of them and the rarest to come across. It is mysterious in its own way, but we also know quite a bit about it. Rainbow Fire,” he looked over at Kyle when he said this, “has the ability to use any other Fires abilities, plus the unique characteristics of its own. The property to look into another’s mind to read their thoughts at the time they are thinking it. This Fire is also known to have the most people to go to the wrong side,” he was looking deep in Kyle’s eyes now, studying them again carefully. “History tells us that the people who use Rainbow Fire like to have the feel of power in their hands and the ones who seek power never end up on the right side of the war.” He walked down to them and motioned them to follow him out of the house. The breeze has blowing stronger outside then it was before, the lake was showing little white capped waves and the trees were tilting away, as if trying to esape the wind. “We’re going to be taking a trip to Mt. Killimore,” he said, looking up at the mountain. “That is the main reason of this visit. I told you about the properties of Fire of Color as a review because Mt. Killimore is full of traps and mysteries revolving around this power.” He continued to lead them through the village to the last building, the Healing Room, before they got to the mountain. As they got closer to the mountain, Kyle was seeing flashes of the three men again, more clearly now than before. The man telling the story of the sacred Fire of Color Lighthouses and how he planned to steal the Tablets to light them. The same men that they saw today, they were back to continue what they started three years ago and will do anything to get their hands on those Tablets. Before they entered the mountain, Kyle stopped them. “They're here to steal the Tablets,” he said to them. “I remember everything from that night now. It was the three men that we saw today…” He told the story to Shelby and Mr. Killimore, Garen started to remember that night as well, filling in parts that Kyle would miss. “…so we have got to be careful in Mt. Killimore when we go in tonight,” Kyle concluded. “I knew what they wanted,” Mr. Killimore said. “They came to me earlier today, just before you three arrived, and demanded I tell themhow to enter. I told them I didn't know, which was a lie. Now let's get into this mountain, I plan to teach you all some of the Fire of Clor's mysteries in there." They continued to walk towards the mountain, coming to a stop when they reached the base of it looking at it in disbelief. There was no entrance to the mountain but, instead, stone steps that looked as though they reached the top of Mt. Killimore thousands of feet above them, they couldn’t even see the top of the mountain or where the steps may have reached. “It’s a good thing we’re starting class early,” Mr. Killimore said and began to walk up the stone steps. “Are you joking?” Garen said in disbelief. “You actually expect us to climb these steps?” “Yes, I do,” he said simply and continued to walk up the steps at a quick pace, not looking back down at the other three. They all just looked at each other, shrugged and started following him up the mountain.